Ethel Kennedy Explains the Taylor Swift Je Ne Sais Quoi

Our continuing investigation of Taylor Swift’s fascinating infiltration of the Kennedy family brings us to the 23rd Annual RFK Golf Tournament, held over the weekend at the Hyannisport Club. Although the Grammy winner could not be there in person, she was well represented by her boyfriend’s grandmother, her Hyannis Port neighbor and unlikely B.F.F. Ethel Kennedy, who charmingly gave an impromptu interview with the Cape Cod TimesWeb cast before hitting the greens.

“She is just sensational, inside and out,” the Kennedy matriarch said before shedding some light on the “It factor” that has seemingly endeared Swift to the family. “She’s very kind and . . . do you know what she really is? She’s game. She had never sailed before. She sailed. She had never gone dragging before, she dragged. She played everything that everyone else was doing and she was good at it. And [with] no fuss. I’m happy that we’ll be neighbors. I’m thrilled.”

First order of business: determine what “dragging” means. (Possibly: a fancy form of Cape Cod fishing? Drag racing around the Kennedy compound? Just hauling miscellaneous Kennedy members around Hyannis Port to pass time?) Second order of business: realize that we should be discussing not Swift’s “It factor” but Ethel Kennedy’s! In the video below, watch as the 84-year-old agreeably speaks to CapeCast, tees off to applause from the crowd, and then wanders off to find the rest of her foursome. (Her teammates includedThere’s Something About Mary filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, Maryland congressman Steny Hoyer, and Matt McCoy, a handsome actor whose IMDb page rightly boasts that he appeared in three Bigfoot/Abominable Snowman–themed movies.)